Living with an apostrophe can be tricky…

Meeting God

This morning I had the wonderful opportunity to give the Children’s Message during our service! This one of my favorite parts of my job. We began by lighting the Christ candle that we light downstairs during Children and Worship. Here’s some of what I said:

Without the presence of Christ, we cannot know God in his full glory. Without the presence of Christ in us, we cannot understand Scripture, the Bible, God’s word. Without the presence of Christ in us, we cannot Worship God. And without the presence of Christ, we cannot love the people around us fully.

Without Christ, we are simply a bunch of people who come together to sing some songs, hear a guy speak some words and go home. Doesn’t really make much sense.

But when Christ is welcomed into our heart, into our lives, into our church service… wow! When Christ is presence in us, we suddenly see how great, how big, how majestic our God, the Father God, is. When Jesus Christ is present in us, we are able to understand by the Holy Spirit (who is God himself) the Bible, God’s own written word. When Christ is present with us we can engage in Joyful worship… worshipping God in Spirit and Truth. And when Christ is present in us and with us, we can love those around us more fully.

And this means that what we are doing here this morning is meaningful… it has meaning. Here we are coming to meet God, because we recognize that without God, we have nothing.

And we light these candles to remind us that it is only through Christ, through his life, death and resurrection and his presence with us today… It is only through Christ that we can know God. Now, I want you to know that these candles don’t have any special power… but what they remind us of, the presence of Christ, hte light of the world… does.

Now before I extinguish the flame of this candle, I have one more question for you. Can one of you tell me why when we sing Be Still and Know downstairs?

Each Communion Sunday, we sing this song before we read God’s word… because we believe it is an important reminder to our congregation that God is with us… that it is only through his power that we read his word.

This morning I am going to ask you to help me lead the congregation in this song. Many of them don’t know the motions like you do, many of them might not know the song as well as you do. So after we extinguish this candle, we are going to lead them and then go back to our seats.

But first, just as this flame reminds us that Christ is present with us right here, and right now… when we extinguish this flame we are reminded that Christ’s presence does not stay here but goes with us wherever we go… just as this smoke filters throughout the room, Christ goes with us.

This morning Christ wants to meet you. You may not understand all of the words the pastor or even I say… you may not like all of the songs we will sing… but Christ wants to meet you, he wants to share with you his love this morning.

It’s a joy and a privilege to worship with you today. Now join me in leading the congregation.

It truly is a joy, an honor and a privilege to worship with children in the service. They continually teach me and guide me… i LOVE it! Happy Sunday everyone.